There are many things to consider when deciding to make your home a green home. For those with building experience many of these things are second nature, but for someone like myself who has never ventured into this territory before, the process can seem a bit daunting. My wife and I are committed to the idea of incorporating as many green aspects inside and outside our home as possible and it’s been fun searching on the web for all the cool features one can add to make their house as sustainable as can be.

When we look at everything that can be done there are two distinct categories: there are the structural components – things for the most part you don’t see too much of and don’t think about very often. These include the building materials, insulation, heating and cooling systems, plumbing, electrical and so on. Thankfully, since our home is only five years old there aren’t a lot of structural aspects that we’re very concerned about because little to nothing needs to be updated.

Then there are the functional components. These include items you interact with on a more regular basis such as appliances, water fixtures and filters, water collection systems, toilets, and so on.

What we’ve done is put together a running list of all the components we’re most interested in investigating further to see how realistic it is to incorporate each of them. As we come across new items we like, we’ll add them to the list. So since this list will have a life of it’s own we’ve given it a name (a boy is it a cute one):

The Living and Breathing Sustainable Living List

Grey water system

Electric tankless water heater

Spray insulation

High efficiency washer and dryer

Dual flush toilets

Bidet toilet seats

CFL light bulbs

Low-flow faucet aerators (1.5 gpm)

Water powered garbage disposal

Rainwater collection

Solar energy system

Composting

Gardening

Raising small livestock

Wildlife management

I think that’s plenty to think about for now. If anyone out there has anything good to add please leave a note in the comments section. In the meantime, I have to get to work researching and implementing these things so we can get all green like the Hulk. Naturally, I’ll post what I do and find to the blog.

2 Comments

That is some great advice on going green! During our remodel we are trying to be more sustainable-starting with our new windows-most people think of keeping their houses warm, but they can also help keep things cool while reducing energy use.

Not sure what you meant by “grey water system”, perhaps this is what you meant, but I wanted to suggest using a constructed wetland in leiu of a septic system. Another suggestion is a windmill-power generation system. There are many different designs of relatively easy DIY wind systems on instructables.com – I look forward to your thoughts!